Thomas Cromwell

Thomas Cromwell (1485-28 July 1540) was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1533 to 1540, Principal Secretary from 1534 to 1540, Master of the Rolls from 1534 to 1536, Lord Privy Seal from 1536 to 1540, Governor of the Isle of Wight from 1538 to 1540, and Lord Great Chamberlain in 1540. He was an important chief minister under King Henry VIII of England during the Tudor period in England, but he was executed in 1540 for suggesting Anne of Cleves as a wife for King Henry.

Biography
Thomas Cromwell was born in Putney, Surrey in 1485 to a family of obscure stock. Cromwell fought as a mercenary in the Italian Wars, fighting for the Kingdom of France at the Battle of Garigliano in 1503. He later lived in the Low Countries, learning several languages while living among the merchants there. Cromwell became involved with the Catholic Church as a minor official, leading to Cromwell leading an embassy to Rome in 1517 and 1518. By 1520, he was well-established in the mercantile and legal circles of London, and he entered the House of Commons in 1523 as a burgess. From 1516 to 1530, he was a member of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's household, and he became his secretary in 1529. After Wolsey's downfall, he was elected to Parliament and entered King Henry VIII of England's favor; King Henry appointed him to various positions at his court during the 1530s, and he served as his chief minister. Cromwell helped to engineer an annullment of the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon so that he could lawfully marry Anne Boleyn, and he charted an evangelical and reformist course for the Church of England in reaction to the breakdown of relations between Henry and the Catholic Church. During his rise to power, Cromwell made several enemies, including Anne Boleyn, a former ally. He played a prominent role in her downfall, but Cromwell himself faced his downfall after the king's unsuccessful marriage to Anne of Cleves. Cromwell was arraigned under a bill of attainder and was executed for treason and heresy on 28 July 1540, a decision that King Henry later came to regret. The great-grandson of Thomas' nephew Richard, Oliver Cromwell, would later lead England himself.